> More and more of the web is built on javascript
Yes, you should definitely allow arbitrary code to run in a Turing-complete interpreter on your personal computer to read some text in the Economist.
This isn't some advanced app or game pushing the limits of web technology, it's words and a few charts.
The "joys of the web" consist more often than not in moving the text I am trying to read to show some ads, messing with the scrolling of the browser (try scrolling news.google.co.uk on an ipad!), overlaying popups to tell me to register to some newsletter or give some feedback, etc. I actually find the web much faster and nicer without javascript. A couple of blog websites will only show complete gibberish without javascript but I think bloggers massively overestimate how keen a typical user is to read what they have to say.
More and more of the web is built on javascript, so opting out of a chunk of what the web runs on will naturally limit your exposure to the dangers (and joys) of the web.